Chapter 23: Contact! (LoR Pt.1)
"Akane-san owed you nothing, Doyun." Bit back Hotaka the second he sat down. "And even if she did, she is unable to pay what she owed."
As our entire team sat at the table, the three orphans let amusement slide off their faces only to let it be replaced by confusion. They all turned to me.
"My name is Sumiko," I bowed, introducing myself to them for the second time. "Uchiha Akane was victim to genocide; she died with every other Uchiha when Itachi the Clan Killer massacred his entire family."
The orphans were shaken to their core when Sensei explained the situation as best he could. They had, of course, heard of the massacre, and had hoped I had survived. But even when they pretended to mourn me for the sake of my cover, I could tell they were relieved to see me alive.
Once pleasantries had been exchanged, and Doyun had nailed me with a 'We'll talk about this later' look, it was all business. They delivered one scroll, and when we pointed out that it was a bit lacking considering the amount of time we'd spent away, they explained that Emiko had taken to fuinjutsu and was quite adept with storage seals. Taka had never looked so proud in the time I'd known him.
"Well, other than the increasing movement regarding trade from Kiri ever since the death of the Mizukage a couple of months ago," explained Danno. "the only other curious thing going on is over in Kusa and Ame."
Doyun nodded along to what his partner was saying as he nibbled on a steamed bun and Emiko sipped her tea quietly beside him. The remaining four of us listened intently to his every word, even if we knew the scroll held a much more detailed account on what had been going on.
"Both the Land of Grass and Amegakure have been steadily closing themselves off to the rest of the world not only trade-wise, they have been keeping a close eye on anyone who enters or leaves their territories." Doyun had taken over where Danno had left the explanation so his friend could eat.
"They aren't completely isolating themselves yet, but it's been growing increasingly obvious this past year." He stopped for a second as the waiter brought more food and tea to their booth. "Whatever is going on, they are getting impatient. Not only that, The Daimyo in Land of Sound has authorized the creation of a hidden village this year, preparations should be starting in February."
Or little 'catching up' went on and on, and before we realized just how much time we'd actually spent talking to the orphans, it was time for us to rendezvous with our contact. We left the place with the promise to see all three of them throughout our entire stay in the city and a new storage scroll safely in Sensei's grasp. It pleased me to see that even after all this time, our interactions with Danno, Doyun and Emiko remained the same. There were no awkward silences, no tiptoeing around each other, no walking on eggshells. Everything still felt like we'd never left, even with the presence of Sumiko.
We pushed through the crowds as we made our way to the centre of the city, avoiding those we knew to be scammers, pick pockets, human traffickers, and other more unpleasant 'tradesmen'. We only stopped walking when we found ourselves outside the city's biggest, most popular brothel. Us genin exchanged a look when Akira-sensei walked in casually as he would into a weapons' shop, and only hurried in after him when Kosuke barked for us to follow.
Inside, every woman that approached Sensei was impeccably dressed, their faces covered in heavy makeup and their hairs styled in ways I did not think would be practical considering their line of work. But they all looked their best, and most carried themselves with a sense of pride most attributed to a highborn.
The matron, however, was another matter entirely. She did not have the appearance of one, she looked walked, talked and dressed as if she were the Daimyo's lady, and had she said that was the case, I would not have doubted her. Adin, the matron to Akai Kyüden, was a very powerful woman, whether she found her power when she became part of the trade or had always had that regal aura to her, I did not know. The only thing I knew for certain was that it was in every body's best interest not to anger her or test her patience.
Not a single hair fell out of place as she turned to greet Akira-sensei, and neither her smile nor her expensive kimono faltered when she bowed to greet us. This, we had not expected: a formal, non hostile greeting from the very person running the biggest brothel in Kawa no Kuni. Adin and Sensei had a brief exchange before the woman lead all five of us towards the tea room reserved for the staff. As we were ushered into the room through a slide door covered in secrecy seals, a booming laugh echoed from the other side of the room.
Two women giggled to both sides of the shinobi sitting in the middle of the room, drinking, eating and laughing with both male and female employees. He was clearly very tall even without the high sandals he wore, and even when his clothes and white spiky hair covered his physique, he was very clearly still in shape. Regardless of being in his forties.
"One would think you of all people would take your job seriously. You know, being a Legendary Sanin and all, Sensei." Teased Akira Sensei as the door slid closed behind us. "I see your methods are as unconventional as ever."
That right there was what made me lose it. 'Sensei'? the great Toad Sage Jiraiya was Inuzuka Akira's former Sensei? Our spy and contact for this mission was one of the Legendary Sanin? Too many questions ran through my head as the two shinobi exchanged playful banter after years of not seeing each other. Both my team mates had frozen beside me as well and it wasn't until Kosuke nudged us all to sit that we came back to our senses.
"Sensei, this is my genin team: Amori Takahiro, our traps specialist and saboteur; Hyuga Hotaka, in charge of surveillance and Iryo-nin in training; and Sumiko, the muscle of the team and fuinjutsu enthusiast." Introduced Akira-sensei, as each of us bowed in greeting. "Gakis, I'm sure you know my former Jonin Sensei, The Legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya."
It took the three of us a while to get over the fact that we would be working with a shinobi of such experience as Jiraiya, but the second we realized just how human he was (the man would not keep his hands off the girls beside him) she spell shattered into pieces. The man was a leech and it took a lot of frowning and Hotaka snapping at him for Jiraiya to get down to business.
"I've been watching the situation in Oto and Ame for a while now. Amegakure is slowly closing itself to the world, so I had a few of my contacts leave for the village and settle there before it stops communication completely like Kiri did," he began. "Oto is another matter entirely. Yes, it used to be easier to infiltrate and it will become increasingly difficult. Thing is, the person I sent over disappeared somewhere in Grass. He's had his citizenship there for a while, and it should have never happened."
"Could someone have been tailing either of you? Maybe someone realized just whose contact he was and abducted him for information. If not that then he maybe knew too much and someone decided to get rid of the threat." Suggested Hotaka as he paused to blow on his steaming cup of tea.
The brothel workers had left once our conversation had turned to work, all of them had their jobs to return to anyway, and the place felt incredibly peaceful and secure once the giggling sex workers had left the room. I realized then that they had picked this specific place for secrecy. Every brothel had a client confidentiality policy that rivaled the secrecy of a high ranked shinobi secret, so this place was the best we would get if we wanted to discuss confidential matters without unwanted ears going around.
It had started to rain outside, and as pleasant as it felt to hear the raindrops hit the roof, I knew that if there had been any traces of the disappearance left, they would be gone by the time the roads had dried enough to start tracking. That right there, was another problem, we were no tracking team, albeit, our sensei was an Inuzuka and former ANBU, but I wondered if that would really be enough to find our missing man.
"We both make a habit of losing our tails before making contact, so he was either tracked down after we met or someone was waiting for him. But the enemy clearly knew who he was, and I'm leaning more towards the possibility that he knew too much. If they knew who he was, they knew he wouldn't speak. None of my contacts ever do."
We continued to speculate on what could have happened to the man, who could have taken him and why; but Jiraiya-san appeared not to have been as preoccupied with the reason he'd been taken, rather with how to get him back.
Still as our meeting extended, we continued to talk strategy. I started to doubt Jiraiya's decision to request a genin team as support for a mission of this caliber. Then, there was the fact that this was a mission most suited for a tracking team, but I had a hunch that we were there because the Sage wanted our team with him. So I decided not to say anything yet. I'd be damned if Cat-taicho got wind that I'd questioned the Jiraiya's judgment.
We decided to set off for Kusa in two day's time, which gave us plenty of time to give our informants specific instructions on what to keep an eye out for, as well as doing some reconnaissance ourselves before we had to leave the city once again. I took advantage of this opportunity to, not only fill Douyn in, but to explain everything that had happened in the time we hadn't seen each other. That is exactly why, the very next day, we both sat at the roof of the inn we were staying in, eating fresh steamed buns before dawn.
"I just want you to tell me if you're okay," said the boy beside me as I munched on my breakfast. "I know he meant a lot to you. Is your brother still alive? I remember you saying that if anyone could stop your friend it would be him."
Sometimes I wondered just how clever it had been to trust Doyun with so much information about myself, but all doubts left me when I remembered just how much we'd gone through together.
"My brother decided to leave this world of his own free will before everything happened,2 I said, hating the way my voice cracked without my consent and how the food in my mouth suddenly tasted so bitter. "But I have reason to think he was forced to do so. I just can't look into it without being accused of treason."
Wind blew around us, and as the city slowly awakened and prepared for a new day of business, we just stared at the sun rising above the horizon and the city walls.
"I have no affiliation to Konoha. You know that, why haven't you asked me to do it?"
It was in moments like these that Doyun dropped his flirty, happy-go-lucky act. He rarely did, but it showed just how serious and coolheaded he could be when he felt the situation warranted it.
"This is personal and most likely very dangerous waters. I don't want you risking your life because I wanted to satisfy my own curiosity."
We stayed there for a while, sitting in silence, eating, enjoying the breeze that danced around us in the morning light. My friend didn't seem to want to let go of the issue at hand, however, because after a few minutes he spoke again.
"You know? I've been helping out with your missions this entire time because it's your job and I want to see you get as far in life as you can get," he paused for a second to try and choose his words with care before he turned to face me. "But I'm not just your comrade, Sumiko, I'm your friend, I want to see you happy more than I want to see you successful. You saved my life, please let me repay you by giving you the closure you need."
It was then, for the first time in months, that I allowed myself to cry freely. Doyun pulled me into his side and rubbed my shoulder gently, letting me get everything out of my system, even when I soaked his clothes with my tears. It was then, with me in his arms that he made me the first and only promise he ever made.
"I'll try my best, and I swear I'll pull back if I feel like it's too much for me. But I'll be damned if I don't at least try to repay the debt I owe you."
…..
It had been harder than expected to sneak up on the two, but Jiraiya knew for a fact that the best Intel was spoken in the dead of the night when everyone thought no one would hear. He was impressed by how they'd almost managed to lose him, but his patience and stubbornness was rewarded with something he'd not seen coming.
Jiraiya knew Hiruzen kept things from him; a spy could never have too much information weather for fear of capture or treason that depended on the person themselves. But the Toad Sage was peeved when he found out Uchiha Shisui had committed suicide. It was out of character and very unusual for a shinobi of his caliber and potential to end their lives.
Hatake Sakumo had been prompted to end his life by the people around him, but Uchiha Shisui had taken his life before the Massacre, otherwise, Itachi would not be alive. So it all came down to how bad had exactly been the situation between the Uchiha Clan and the Hat. Jiraiya would not have thought of Shisui as one to take what others called 'the easy way out'. No, Shisui was a fighter, and the Sage would definitely find out exactly what happened.
Just as he always did.